


It's My Job

by Kibasdaydreams



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: FFXVWeek 3 day 3, Gen, I love the boys' friendship, It's my job prompt, LuNoct if you squint, Noctis growing up, Protecting Noctis is their bloodbond, Tumblr: ffxvweek, Well more like it's everyone's bloodbond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 18:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8812252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kibasdaydreams/pseuds/Kibasdaydreams
Summary: If there was ever a phrase that Noctis detested it was ‘it’s my job’.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally for FFXV week 3 day 3 on Tumblr (It's my job prompt). Constructive criticism is welcome, but please don't be nasty. Feel free to follow me on Tumblr: http://kibasdaydreams.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy and please comment!

If there was ever a phrase that Noctis detested it was ‘it’s my job’.

 

The earliest memory he has of hearing this is when he was four years old. He had been desperately bored and begged his father to play with him. “Just for a little while,” he had pleaded.

 

His father had refused him, and told him that he was far too busy to play any games. “Why?” Noctis had asked. At the time he had wondered if perhaps his father did not like him, and maybe that was why he didn’t want to spend any time with him.

 

His father had explained that it was because he had a lot of work to do to better their kingdom. “Why?” Noctis had asked again, still thoroughly confused on the matter; why did he have to better their kingdom?

 

“Because,” his father continued. “I am the king; it’s my job.”

 

No matter how much Noctis had thought about it he still couldn’t quite understand what that meant. However, he was intuitive enough to know that whenever someone said that, it wasn’t a good thing.

 

* * *

  

The next time he heard the phrase he was eight years old. Noctis had been taken to Tenebrae to recuperate from his vicious childhood attack, and had met its princess. He liked Luna; they were friends, and Noctis had never had a real friend before – someone who wasn’t hired to take care of him but was actually spending time with him of their own free will.

 

They had been sitting together on her bed while she read him stories of the First King and Oracle. He loved when she read to him, her voice was so nice and comforting. He felt so lucky to have that lovely voice read only to him. Luna had closed the book after she finished.

 

“Can I ask you something?” Noctis had asked her. “Why are you going to help me purge the Scourge?”

 

 _‘Because you are my friend’_ he had hoped to hear her say. _‘Because I believe in you, and I want to help you.’_ He really wished that she would say something along those lines.

 

“Because,” she began, “I’m the Oracle; it’s my job.” His stomach dropped, and all of the warmth that Luna’s love had filled him with suddenly left him as the cold words pierced his heart.

 

‘It’s my job.’ Noctis was now of the age where he understood what this phrase meant. And he had come to hate it immensely. The job seemingly came before anything else.

 

He wasn’t important, the job was.

 

* * *

  

Noctis was a fifteen-year-old boy which meant two things: he could be a bit of a moody brat, and he was a total slob. Thankfully, he had Ignis to look out for him.

 

However, the night prior they had an argument. It had started out over something stupid, probably his household negligence or his lack of preparation for his princely duties, but Noctis had been feeling so incredibly stressed that he had blown up at Ignis and ordered him to leave. He couldn’t help it; he was so exhausted from all of the pressure he was under, both as Noctis, the schoolboy and Noctis, the Crown Prince, that he needed an outlet for his frustration. Nevertheless, he knew that Ignis didn’t deserve his harsh treatment.

 

It therefore stood to reason that Ignis would not return that night, and that Noctis would find the apartment empty sans the pleasant odour of a delicious homemade feast, and a warm welcome to greet him. It was terrible timing too since he was out of groceries and was absolutely famished by the time he had arrived.

 

However, this was not the case – Ignis was home, preparing the dinner in the spotless kitchen as per usual. It had been slightly awkward at first, both boys avoided the other’s eye and shuffled uneasily, but they soon apologised; Ignis had been cold whereas Noctis had been hot-headed. “I totally don’t deserve you, Ignis,” Noctis had begun as he sighed in relief. He could always depend on Ignis to be there. “Why are you so good to me?”

 

“Because it’s my job, Highness,” had been the reply.

 

‘It’s my job.’ He didn’t come back for him, he came back because it was his job.

 

Noctis decided he wasn’t hungry anymore.

 

* * *

 

 Noctis was now a young man of twenty, travelling to Altissia for his wedding by dangerous roads while also being hunted down by the Empire. That meant that he got into quite a few scraps along the way.

 

They were fighting a sizeable Magitek infantry in the Duscae region. Things were going fine, they were familiar to the tactics of the robotic soldiers and had gained considerable experience from their previous encounters. They were rather confident in their abilities by now.

 

Too confident, in fact, as Prompto had failed to pay proper attention and had his back turned to five soldiers. “Prompto, look out!” Noctis cried out before he summoned a thunder spell to eliminate the threat. A wave of fatigue suddenly crashed over him causing him to collapse to his knees; he’d used up all his magic.

 

He suddenly heard Gladiolus’ booming voice yell, “Noct!” before his body was roughly slammed onto the ground before he could even turn around.

 

A bullet fired.

 

A cry of pain tore itself from Gladiolus.

 

_Then more bullets._

 

The prince’s eyes widened as a cold pit formed in his stomach. He bolted upright despite his body’s complaints. He had to check. He had to see.

 

“Gladio, are you okay?!” Prompto asked as he skidded to a halt next to the bodyguard with Ignis in tow. Noctis could have cried in relief; the gunshots were his friend’s as evidenced from the bullet-ridden corpse of the robot. But when he turned to check on Gladiolus he knew something was wrong when he saw that all-too familiar grimace on his face and was clutching his right arm.

 

“I-it’s fine. Just a flesh wound.” He looked over to see his charge. “Sorry if I hurt you, Noct. There wasn’t time.”

 

“You wouldn’t have had to if I had been paying better attention,” Prompto mumbled guiltily. “Noct used up all his magic helping me out. It was my fault.”

 

“It does appear to be a flesh wound, after all,” Ignis assessed after he examined the wound. “You were very lucky,” he commented as he administered a potion, which healed it almost instantly.

 

“Why did you do it?” asked Noctis, unable to meet Gladiolus’ gaze.

 

“Because it’s my job-“

 

**_“Why is that all you people think of?!”_ **

 

The three were shocked into silence at their prince’s outburst. “It’s always the same stupid excuse with you! ‘It’s my job!’ ‘It’s my job!’ ‘It’s my job!’ Why don’t you ever think about how it makes me feel to know that I’m causing so much trouble for people just because it’s their job?!”

 

“You’re not causing trouble for us, Noct,” said Prompto. “This is what we signed up for-”

 

“Don’t you give me that too! I don’t want to hear that from you too!” Noctis cut in harshly as he glared at the blond. “Everyone is always saying that they’re standing by me through all of this shit because it’s their job! Well enough is enough! I don’t want people to get hurt protecting me because of their stupid job!” He panted heavily a good few seconds, his throat raw and his eyes burning with unshed tears.

 

He couldn’t deal with the incessant guilt deep inside of him, that one day Luna, or Ignis, or Gladiolus, or even Prompto could get hurt or even worse, and they’d just smile and tell him that it was okay because they had done his job. They didn’t realise that he just wanted them there with him, and that was enough for him. He didn’t want them to do their job if it meant that they were unhappy or that they could get hurt. He just wanted them to stay with him because they wanted to, not because they were obliged to do so.

 

“What I meant to say,” Prompto started, “is that we signed up for this because we are your friends. We didn’t come here because we were paid to, although that plays a factor for Specs and Muscles, we’re sticking it out with you through thick and thin because we care about you. Sure, that means that we take gotta sometimes take the rough with the smooth, but none of us would want it any other way.”

 

The gunman rose up before he plopped down next to his friend and slung his arm around his shoulders, stilling his tremors. “And hey, you totally saved my ass back there too, so don’t you dare think for a second that this is a one-sided relationship. There were plenty of times where you helped us out, and you don’t owe us anything. That’s why we’re here for you, Noct, because you’re our friend, not just our prince.”

 

“Damn right,” asserted Gladiolus as he sat beside the pair. “Do you really think I’d be here, and not with my little sister back in Lestallum if I didn’t want to be here with you? You’re like my little brother, Noct. We’ve crossed the line from prince and his shield to friends a long time ago.”

 

“Quite,” Ignis said, moving over to the rest of them. “It’s true, we do have a duty to remain by your side to assist you in your time of need because you are our prince, but that is secondary to our duty as your friends. No matter where that path leads us, we will follow it whole-heartedly. Although you can be stubborn and unreasonable at times, rest assured we will not abandon you – you can always depend on us to be there for you.”

 

“That’s our job as your friends, Noct,” stated Prompto as he squeezed his shoulder.

 

“Thank you – all of you.”

 

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad phrase after all.


End file.
